First time sauerkraut

Alright, I just bought a fermenting pot. My hubby and I would like to make sauerkraut. There is a dairy allergy so we will need to use only salt or vinegar for ours. Now I am a timid person and so scared about doing something wrong and making us sick. I've read somewhere about bochalism when making sauerkraut and thus makes me want to get rid of the pot and not try. Is there any risks and dangers I should know about and how do I prevent them?

Second, how do I store it once done? We have a 10L pot. I would like to keep the bacteria alive as I'm trying to heal our guts.

I would like to can some to eat throughout the year as well. I understand this would kill any bacteria but I'm okay with that as I will keep some raw. Has anyone canned theirs? How long is it good for?

I guess I'm just looking for a kick in the butt to start and reassurance I'm not going to kill us with death by sauerkraut. And how to keep it.

I know you don't need anything special to make it, I just feel more comfortable that way. The pot we have has a water airlock which will let the gasses out while preventing oxygen from coming in. Just makes it easier for my first time and all I have to worry about is keeping the water level up. :)

I planned on just storing it in mason jars in the fridge. I've heard not to use a metal lid as it will rust and not to use plastic because even food grade will leech. What type of lid should I use? I don't know of any others LOL

!!!! how many grams of Na would that be? Right now I am eating through a jar of beet krauts (the one fermenting is daikon kraut), and I do use it as "salt": say I cook a steak with no salt, then I cover it with olive oil and some beet kraut. But a teaspoon a day is enough for me.

Yes, 10L is a lot but it's the smallest crock we could find with good ratings. I don't really trust myself to ferment without a fermenting crock. Haha. We will be canning it plus giving some to family.

When it is stored in the fridge does it still need to remain below the brine or does it matter in the fridge?

Glad to hear there will be no bad bacteria as long as I follow everything exactly. :) Makes me less nervous.

6
Answers

I just use a large 32oz glass jar that previously had ghee, and isn't BPA lined (you can see the metal in the lid on both sides)

I punched a hole in the lid and placed an airlock in the lid, then sealed it with chewing gum. (Sounds gross, but if you microwave the gum, it becomes nice and soft, like a glue - and is sterile). You could also use some silicone sealant, but I'm not sure I want that near my food at all.

Once it made a good seal and cooled off, I filled the airlock with water as per the guides on it. I have a bunch of these jars, all the same, so I can use one lid to ferment while the others are used for storage.

I then finely julienned layers of red cabbage, seasalt, red beets and repeated all the way to the top and squeezed them down as hard as possible. I know you're not supposed to add water as per most recipes, but I've had better success getting rid of all the air by pouring some RO filtered water (very little was needed.)

As the ferment started, the cabbage/beets gave off gas and released liquid pushing liquid out the airlock, not great, so I put a large pan under the jar to capture any runoff, but this created a tightly sealed environment without air, and positive pressure which is what's needed to keep contaminants out.

I know you don't need anything special to make it, I just feel more comfortable that way. The pot we have has a water airlock which will let the gasses out while preventing oxygen from coming in. Just makes it easier for my first time and all I have to worry about is keeping the water level up. :)

I planned on just storing it in mason jars in the fridge. I've heard not to use a metal lid as it will rust and not to use plastic because even food grade will leech. What type of lid should I use? I don't know of any others LOL

The secret to good kraut is to keep it submerged and to add enough salt, just as the above answer mentioned. Botulism is only a risk in canning because the boiled, aseptic, sugary, low-acid environment is a perfect opportunity for bad bacteria to colonize. Since kraut is salty, acidic, and has a healthy amount of good bacteria already, botulism can't survive. Death by raw sauerkraut, as Katz will tell you, is basically impossible.

For dairy- free beginnings, you can either just leave it and it will ferment on its own or you can add a bit of raw apple cider vinegar. I recommend not putting it in the fridge until it's tasty because the fridge will slow the fermentation and it could take weeks before it's sour enough. Depending on your taste, the kraut will have plenty of probiotics after a few weeks but it will get more and more sour after a longer amount of time.

Also, some macrobiotic people enjoy just overnight soaking otherwise hard to digest veg like cabbage in salt water. It's also good that way.

I've been making it for years along with plenty of other fermented stuff. Store it in glass mason jars in the fridge when you're done. I recommend starting with less than the full 10 liters. You can do it!

First of all 10 liters is a lot of krauts. Second, krauts kept in the fridge will not spoil. I make a jar at a time (1qt, approx. 1 liter), and by the time we finish it, we are halfway through the year. So just ferment your krauts, place them in jars, and eat them when ready. No chance of bad bacteria unless you put in too little salt, or leave pieces of vegetables above the brine, which brings me to the last point: until you know what you are doing, follow the recipe exactly.

Yes, 10L is a lot but it's the smallest crock we could find with good ratings. I don't really trust myself to ferment without a fermenting crock. Haha. We will be canning it plus giving some to family.

When it is stored in the fridge does it still need to remain below the brine or does it matter in the fridge?

Glad to hear there will be no bad bacteria as long as I follow everything exactly. :) Makes me less nervous.